The big feature in today’s Pricewatch column is about making your own lunch, and the effect of the recession on sandwich shops.  The founder of O’Brien’s sandwich shops makes the reasonable point that cafes are still required to pay high rents even when their business is drastically falling off.

However, it’s difficult to feel too much sympathy for O’Briens, considering that they haven’t really reduced their prices as far as I can see.  I was in Stephen’s Green on Saturday with some friends, and one bought lunch in O’Brien’s for himself and his little boy.  The bag contained two sandwiches, one juice, one coffee, one bag of crisps and a couple of bars of chocolate, and cost seventeen euros.

But a lot of the other coffee shops around Dublin really seem to be stepping it up, with lots of good all-day deals. They’re being a bit more generous than the restaurants and are usually not just restricting their deals to limited hours.  Here’s a few that I picked up on my wanderings:

• Cafe Werburgh on Lord Edward St (just up the hill from Dublin Castle) has soup and a sandwich for €5.75.
• Their neighbours on Lord Edward St, Robeks Juice, has a few good-sounding offers: soup, sandwich/wrap and an apple/banana/orange for €6.95; fresh juice and a muffin for €3.95.
• Seven Wonders on Aston Quay and the IFSC have some really good deals with bagels: a lunch bagel and a small smoothie for €6.50; a lunch bagel and soup for €6.50; and a regular latte or cappuccino with a bacon and cream cheese bagel for €4.00.  You also get a free bag of crisps with every lunch bagel.

Related posts:

1. More coffee shop offers
2. Where’s the priciest coffee in Ireland?
3. Offers from the coffee chains